The present invention relates to an ice piece dispenser for a conventional household refrigerator and more specifically to an ice dispenser of the type disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,422,994 issued Jan. 21, 1969, U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,244 issued Apr. 8, 1969 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,441 issued Aug. 31, 1971. Briefly described, such a dispenser comprises a receptacle for receiving and storing ice pieces from an automatic ice maker and dispensing means rotatably supported in a horizontal position within the receptacle so that, upon operation thereof, ice pieces will be automatically dispensed through a discharge opening in the front end of the receptacle. The dispensing means comprises a feed section for feeding ice pieces to the discharge opening and a conveying section connected to the feed section and rotatable therewith. The feed section comprises a cylindrical collar containing therein a double bladed screw auger or metering helix rotatable with the collar and the discharge opening is positioned relative to the outlet of the feed section. The feed section also adjusts the delivery rate of the ice pieces to prescribed limits for user convenience and also provides a moderate flow rate of ice pieces independently of the reservoir or receptacle fill level.
To continually move ice pieces into the rotatable feed section there is employed a collector wire auger having a helically coiled portion connected at one end to the feed section and the other end is connected to drive means for rotating the wire helical auger and feed section. The transition from the collector wire auger to the feed section is accomplished by maintaining a transition pool of continually moving ice pieces at the auger output and allowing the ice pieces to fall into the metering helix within the collar of the feed section as they randomly present themselves in the proper position and orientation.
For maximum enjoyment of an ice piece dispenser in a household refrigerator, it is desirable that the dispenser provide both whole ice pieces and crushed ice. That is, the user has an option to operate the dispensing means so that a selection may be made as to delivery of either whole ice pieces or crushed ice. Ice piece dispensers using a feed section as described above move the ice pieces through the feed section and then encounter a stationary plate having a discharge opening. Ice pieces that fall through the opening are delivered optionally to the user's glass or to the crusher blades of the dispenser before the crushed ice is dispensed into the glass depending upon selection by the user. Those ice pieces that do not exit smoothly through the stationary plate discharge opening are sometimes carried past the lower portion of the stationary plate opening and are jammed or wedged between the blades of the screw auger in the feed section and the upper edge of the opening.
By this invention there is provided a different shape feed section and particularly the shape of the blades of the screw auger of the feed section that prevents ice pieces from being jammed if they do not exit smoothly through the stationary plate opening.